The Command - Brian Jacques - Flying Dutchman 02

The crew set about building a driftwood fire on the shore as night set in. The Devon Belle’s crew towed the Diablo out and secured her alongside the privateer. Teal commanded the entire operation, striding about and giving orders as blocks and tackles hauled cannon between the two ships. Rocco Madrid sat in Teal’s cabin aboard the Devon Belle, sampling the Madeira while he formed bloodthirsty schemes for future days. Joby, who had now been promoted to carpenter, had a party at work replacing the bowsprit with timbers from the Devon Belle’s broken foremast as others laboured at rigging new foresails and bowlines.

One of the men nodded toward the pirates onshore. ” ‘Tain’t fair! Lookit that lot, layin’ about on the sand while we’re sloggin’ our guts out aboard this tub!”

“You were sayin’ ?”

The man turned to see Teal standing there. He bent his back to the task, apologising humbly. “Nothin’, Cap’n, never said a word, sir!”

9

LA PETITE MARIE had now passed through the Mona Passage, the channel between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Ben and Ned were in the captain’s cabin, getting a lesson in navigation from the Frenchman. A large, untidy chart was spread out on the bed, with books and a sextant holding down its scrolled corners.

Thuron indicated a spot on the map. “This is a simple old chart, rough but reliable. We are about here by my reckoning, see, Ben?”

The boy studied where Thuron was pointing. “We’re actually out in the Atlantic Ocean. Where do we go from here, Cap’n?”

Thuron stroked his beard. “Right across this chart and on to a second one which I have. This ocean is a strange place, boy, not much is known about it. Many ships have been lost and never heard from again. No one knows how deep the seas and oceans of this world are. When you sail the high seas on a vessel, I wager that you don’t think of what lies beneath its keel. Have you ever thought of that, Ben?”

Ned interjected his opinion into Ben’s thoughts. “Personaay!”

Ben stroked the black Labrador’s ears to silence him. “Hush, Ned, don’t interrupt. Listen to the cap’n!”

Thuron tapped at the deck with his foot. “Underneath our pitiful little ship lies a whole world. Valleys, hills, deserts and huge mountains!” He smiled into Ben’s startled blue eyes. “Never thought of that, have you, lad? But ‘tis a fact. One day men may go there to explore it. Hundreds of thousands of leagues, clear and visible near the surface, where daylight and the sun can penetrate, descending to shaded blues and greens, then on to where it is dark as a moonless night with no stars. But down, ever down to complete blackness, fathomless and silent as the grave, a realm of fish that are all sizes. Some no bigger than a babe’s fingernail, others massive, monsters of the deep who have lurked there since the earth was young!”

Ned lay on the bed, covering both ears with his paws and whining as he transmitted his thoughts to Ben. “Wait’ll I get my paws on land again. I’ll never go near any water, not even a duck pond!”

Ben stroked his dog soothingly as the captain continued. “Aye, and here are we, no more than a tiny splinter in the scale of things, bobbing up and down over the great deeps where the Bible says leviathans and behemoths dwell. We’re a tiny, bold species, Ben, no doubt about it!”

The boy nodded agreement. “I suppose we are, sir, but could you stop frightening Ned and tell me which way we’re bound?”

Thuron looked from the dog to the boy and chuckled. “I think ‘tis you and not Ned who is afeared. Where are we bound? Straight northeast. The only land ‘twixt here and France is some little islands they call the Azores. Come on, my lucky mates, we’ll go and tell Pierre to alter the course from due east.”

They followed the captain out on deck, where he gave orders to Pierre, who was at the helm. Obeying his captain’s command, the trusty Pierre turned the wheel. He frowned and turned it again, then turned it a bit more. “Cap’n, she’s not coming about, look!” Thuron watched his steersman turn the wheel once more.

Pierre shook his head in bewilderment. “I’ve turned this wheel so much that we should be heading south by now. Something’s wrong, Cap’n!”

Thuron took the wheel. “Here, let me try.” There was no resistance in the ship’s wheel; it spun freely. The Frenchman held it still and rested his forehead against one of the carved mahogany spokes, pondering the problem.

Ben could not help asking, “What’s wrong, sir?”

Thuron straightened up, shaking his head. “If I knew, I’d be able to tell ye, lad. But I have an idea what caused it. The Trinidad Shuffle. It couldn’t have been anything else. Our Marie isn’t a young girl anymore, she’s getting on to be an old lady—things start to wear and tear. That was a wild and stormy night, and we were caught ‘twixt two vessels. When I did the shuffle, it was a hard an’ punishing manoeuvre. I think that something broke, or cracked, or came loose. Between then and now, with all the steering we’ve had to do, a part of the rudder has been damaged. I’ll wager that’s what it is. Ben, go and fetch Anaconda.”

The giant black man was off duty, napping in his hammock, when Ben shook him gently. “Cap’n wants to see you, sir.”

Anaconda swung gracefully to the deck. Flashing a brief smile at the boy, he ducked neatly out of the cabin. Thuron was not a small man, but he had to lift his chin to meet the big fellow’s eyes.

“Our Marie had an accident while dancing the Trinidad Shuffle, my friend.”

Anaconda picked up a coil of rope as though it were a piece of string. “This old lady’s prob’ly hurt her rudder, Cap’n. I better take a look.”

He lashed the rope to the Marie’s stern bollard and dropped it into the sea. Going hand over hand, he lowered himself into the water, taking a deep breath before he submerged. They lost sight of Anaconda once he went under the curving after end.

Ned poked his head between the gallery rails. “Good job he hasn’t been listening to the cap’n talking about leviathans an’ behemoths, and all sorts of sea monsters lurking about down there!”

Ben returned his dog’s observation. “Oh, I think Anaconda could hold his own—have you seen the size of that knife he wears in the back of his belt? I’ve seen smaller swords. He’s been under quite a while now, though. I hope nothing’s happened to him, Ned.”

Pierre’s voice interrupted the thought. “He’s coming up!”

The handsome giant’s head showed through the smooth wake water, then broke the surface. Anaconda blinked, snorted and hauled himself neatly back aboard. “Need copper strip, hammer an’ nails, Cap’n—her rudder’s come adrift. It’s flapping about down there like a tavern sign.”

Thuron smiled with relief. “Thank the Lord for that, my friend. We’ve got strip an’ nails aplenty. Will it take ye long to repair?”

Anaconda shrugged his powerfully muscled shoulders. “Might take a few dives, but I can’t do it alone. My fingers are too thick for threading the strip between the break and the helm spindle. ‘Tis a narrow gap. Now if I had somebody down there with me, I could hold the rudder flap together. They could pass the copper strip through the narrow part. We’d start by nailing one side to the flap. I’d hold the rudder together, then when the other end of the strip was passed through, I’d secure it with another nail. One or two more nails through the strip either side, and she’d be good as new!”

Thuron began shedding his coat, giving orders to some crew members who had come to see what was wrong. “Bring another rope, a hammer, some copper strip and a handful of brass nails.”